Serious Steak & Ale Pie

Cooking time

Plus as long as possible for cooking

Servings

Serves 3

Traditional English pie inspired by the fells of the lake district and a long walk up Pavey Arc and Stickle Tarn in the snow.

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You may also want to use Mushrooms, Peas, Potatoes or any other desired vegetables in this pie - depending on what you are serving with!

Method

Heat the oil in the pan with the onion and garlic for 1 mintue.

Add the steak - I usually cut the steak gradually into the pan. Cook until the meat is seared all over and there is no pink left. By this time there will be some juice in the pan and this should be sizzling.

Pour in half the Ale and allow to simmer for a minute, then pour in the rest with the thyme, chilli powder salt and pepper.

Crumble in the oxo cubes- both the beef and the vegetables. (you may want to use more or less cubes depending on how thick you like the gravy). Add in the chopped vegetables.

Simmer for 10 mintues and then transfer to a large casserol pot. If the gravy doesnt cover the meat then add some water and mix in.

Pop the dish into the oven at gas mark 3 or 4 and leave for at least 1 hour 30 mins.

20 minutes before you want to serve, roll out the pastry and cut appropriate size tops for your pie dishes. Take the dish out of the oven and ladel the meat into the individual dishes. Pop on the tops on the dishes and put back in the oven for 20 mins (gas 4). You could make one large pie using the casserol disk if desiered.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool for a while- as the filling can be extremely hot! Enjoy!

The men of my family absolutely wolfed this one down. I made individual pies and used Hobgoblin beer. I left out the garlic as I can't eat it but the flavour of the gravy, (I didn't use all the cubes either) was so rich. I used the leftover liquid and added flour to make a thicker gravy to pour over the mash we ate with it.
Definitely a new favourite in our house

Really REALLY wished I had read the comments before adding all the stock cubes.... Waaaaaaay too salty, had to drain and start again! Luckily the local tesco express had real ale on its shelf - hope I've rescued it - the proof is in the eating, as they say. Otherwise a good recipe and easy to follow. Agrees with the others though, 1kg for 3 ppl?!?? I don't think so! We did diced beef 400g and will have more than enough for two servings, left overs will do a spare pie.

So my choices for this were as follows:
- Out of lack of Ale I opted for a Schwarzbier
- I floured the Sauce before adding the second 250 ml beer
- I didn't have Oxo cubes, so I went with some random amount of beef stock (by eye)
- For my herbs, I chose basil and fresh chillies plus paprika.
It tasted fantastic. Really enjoyed the recipe.

This is a lovely tasty dish, which can also be used to make a stew (if calorie counting!!). I agree with other, it is very salty and only 1 or 2 stock cubes need. I halve the recipe and it would easy serve a family of four!!

Halved the recipe with 300g of beef for 2 and there would have been more than enough for 3, so I can imagine 1kg recipe would feed at least 6.
Really nice, but like others I put in less stock cubes. Really nice dish that is easy to do and could also make a lovely casserole, if you had no pastry.

Hi, delicious! However, 4 Oxo cubes?!!! Over the top salty!! Luckily I tasted in time to save the dish... Had to drain and pretty much start again. Luckily we had more beer in the house ;). Resounding success for family with teenage boys. Didn't have any thyme, so cooked the beef with sticks of celery which I removed before putting on the pie crust. After ladling the meat into pie dish I reduced the stock for a while and thickened with a little cornflour. Served with rice and peas and followed with jam tarts made with left over pastry!

This steak and ale pie is fantastic! I have made this pie several times and it can be varied in so many ways - from what type of ale to different vegetables. Perfect for the cold and dark nights that are now upon us. Thanks again for this lovely heartwarming recipe!

Loved this recipe! Steak and Ale Pie is my all time favourite food, and although I've tried many times to make a decent one at home, they've always been disasters, This recipe was easy to follow, and turned out lovely. I missed out the chilli and pepper, as they're not to our taste, but the pie tasted gorgeous without them. I think next time I'll try flouring the beef and using less stock cubes, but I love a good meaty pie, and this one was perfect!

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